Transpac – Race day 1

And we’re off! Leaving Shorline Yachtclub and Rainbow Marina with a great Aloha we steamed north to the staring area close to Point Fermin. Boats in division 5, 6 & 7 were sent off in light breeze around 5 knots of speed straight on the nose. Cubaneren and it’s self tacking jib was not to happy about the conditions and though great efforts were made we were 40 sec late across the line. Error noted.

To make up for the slightly disappointing performance we did a port tack and headed for the spectator fleet and coastal route off the starting area. Less current was good, but we tacked onto starboard just a little to late to fully benefit from the forecasted (yes – we know…) wind shift that allowed most of the fleet also further west of us to reach north of Saint Catalina (a mandatory waypoint) and into the Pacific.
Right now – in complete darkness and cloudy weather – we’re racing within sight of our main competitors with a heading around 230 degrees in winds that exceed the forecast (10-14 kn) – highly preferred by our cuban cigar who is still limited to carrying the small jib in true wind angles around 60-70 degrees.

And for those of you who doesn’t care about the sailing – here’s the news for you! Yes – it only took two hours before we did our first whale spotting. Nice! We’ve had chicken teryaki and chilli con carne for lunch and dinner – both rating 4 on the crews food scale. Interior damage is already in place due to missing sea legs in upwind conditions. And it turns out our compass works the best with the spray hood in place. And @mariusmilde – the sunset was just okay. Nothing special.